April 28, 2023

Second Update and Compilation of 4/27/23 Data

After collecting more bones and pellets for a few months after I made the project, I decided it was time for another update. Since early-mid March, I have barely found any new pellets at its roost, so it might be using a different area of the park.
The owl continues to eat more mammals than birds. I have yet to find an herp bones in the pellets, but there's still the rest of spring and summer. After continually finding rufous eastern screech owl feathers throughout the months, I decided that it only ate 1 screech owl.

Taxa Count
Birds 5
Northern Short-tailed Shrew 2
Crows and Ravens 1
Primates, Rodents, and Allies 1
Southern Flying Squirrel 2
New World Blackbirds and Orioles 1
Hares and Rabbits 1
Mammals 13
Eastern Screech-Owl 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Meadow Voles 2
Old World Mice and Rats 2
Muroids 1
Perching Birds 11
North American Deer Mice 8
Woodpeckers 1
Placental Mammals 2
Old World Rats 1
Brown Rat 3
Rodents 14
Eastern Gray Squirrel 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Eastern Cottontail 15
American Robin 1
Vertebrates 10

Taxa Count
Mammals 69
Birds 23
UnIDed 10
Total 102

Observation Highlights:

This brown rat partial skull and other bones:

An almost complete northern short tailed shrew skull and other bones:


Many thanks to all of the identifiers!
@tfrench @galecyon @karakaxa @lizardking @zitserm @mbwildlife @paleoshrike @zugz @apgarm @featherenthusiast @porlanaturaleza @chewitt1 @kmccartney3521 @scar2004 @caterpillar511 @nflicker101 @lavenderosella

Posted on April 28, 2023 07:41 PM by brennafarrell brennafarrell | 4 comments | Leave a comment

February 3, 2023

First Update and Compilation of 2/2/23 Data

After collecting a lot of bones and pellets for a few months, I decided to make this project to make it easier to see what the great horned owl at Tamanend Park eats. It consists of bones from the pellets and feathers from dead birds found under its roost.


After creating the project, I decided compile all of the data so far, adjusting for duplicates. So far the owl eat more mammals than birds, and a slightly wider variety.

Taxa Count
Birds 4
Northern Short-tailed Shrew 1
Crows and Ravens 1
Southern Flying Squirrel 1
New World Blackbirds and Orioles 1
Hares and Rabbits 1
Mammals 10
Eastern Screech-Owl 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Meadow Voles 2
Perching Birds 8
North American Deer Mice 1
Woodpeckers 1
Placental Mammals 1
Brown Rat 1
Rodents 7
Eastern Gray Squirrel 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Eastern Cottontail 7
American Robin 1
Vertebrates 15

Taxa Count
Mammals 34
Birds 20
UnIDed 15
Total 69

Overall, the owl only eats birds and mammals, but maybe that will change in the spring and summer, as most of my observations are from late fall and winter.


Observation Highlights:

A surprise observation, and my favorite so far, is this southern flying squirrel skull:

Another interesting observation is this partial skull from an eastern screech owl:


Many thanks to all of the identifiers!
@tfrench @galecyon @karakaxa @lizardking @zitserm @featherenthusiast @kmccartney3521 @mbwildlife @scar2004 @nflicker101

Posted on February 3, 2023 11:02 PM by brennafarrell brennafarrell | 6 comments | Leave a comment

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